Enhanced photoelectrochemical water splitting using a cobalt-sulfide-decorated BiVO4 photoanode

doi:10.1016/S1872-2067(21)63845-7

Abstract

Abstract:

Solar-driven water splitting is considered as a promising method to mitigate the energy crisis and various environmental issues. Bismuth vanadate (BiVO₄) is photoanode material with tremendous potential for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. However, its PEC performance is severely hindered owing to poor surface charge transfer, surface recombination at the photoanode/electrolyte junction, and sluggish oxygen evolution reaction (OER) kinetics. In this regard, a novel solution was developed in this study to address these issues by decorating the surface of BiVO₄ with cobalt sulfide, whose attractive features such as low cost, high conductivity, and rapid charge-transfer ability assisted in improving the PEC activity of the BiVO₄ photoanode. The fabricated photoanode exhibited a significantly enhanced photocurrent density of 3.2 mA cm ^-2 under illumination at 1.23 V vs. a reversible hydrogen electrode, which is more than 2.5 times greater than that of pristine BiVO₄. Moreover, the CoS/BiVO₄photoanode also exhibited considerable improvements in the charge injection yield (75.8% vs. 36.7% for the bare BiVO₄ film) and charge separation efficiency (79.8% vs. 66.8% for the pristine BiVO₄ film). These dramatic enhancements were primarily ascribed to rapid charge-transport kinetics and efficient reduction of the anodic overpotential for oxygen evolution enabled by the surface modification of BiVO₄ by CoS. This study provides valuable suggestions for designing efficient photocatalysts via surface modification to improve the PEC performance.

Key words: Photoelectrochemical water splitting, Bismuth vanadate, Cobalt sulfide, Charge separation and transfer, Photoanode

Zhiming Zhou, Jinjin Chen, Qinlong Wang, Xingxing Jiang, Yan Shen. Enhanced photoelectrochemical water splitting using a cobalt-sulfide-decorated BiVO₄ photoanode[J]. Chinese Journal of Catalysis, 2022, 43(2): 433-441.

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URL: https://www.cjcatal.com/EN/10.1016/S1872-2067(21)63845-7

https://www.cjcatal.com/EN/Y2022/V43/I2/433

Figures/Tables 7

Fig. 1. SEM images of BiOI (a), BiVO4 (b), and CoS/BiVO4 (c); (d) TEM image of the CoS/BiVO4 photoanode.

Scheme 1. Schematic of the preparation of the CoS/BiVO4 photoanode.

Fig. 2. High-resolution XPS profiles featuring the O 1s of pure BiVO4 (a), V 2p (b) and Bi 4f (c) of BiVO4 and CoS/BiVO4, and Co 2p of CoS/BiVO4 (d).

Fig. 3. (a) UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra of the BiVO4 and CoS/BiVO4 photoanodes; (b) Photocurrent-potential curves of the BiVO4 and CoS/BiVO4 photoanodes under AM 1.5 G and chopped illumination; (c) Comparison of the PEC performance of the CoS/BiVO4 photoanode and that of other representative BiVO4-based photocatalysts at 1.23 V vs. RHE; (d) IPCE profiles of the BiVO4 and CoS/BiVO4 photoanodes measured at an applied voltage of 1.23 V vs. RHE.

Fig. 4. Light harvesting efficiency (a), electron flux at AM 1.5G (b), charge separation efficiency (c), and charge injection efficiency (d) of the BiVO4 and CoS/BiVO4 photoanodes.

Fig. 5. Electrochemical impedance spectra of BiVO4 and CoS/BiVO4 photoanodes obtained at 1.23 V vs. RHE under illumination.

Fig. 6. Proposed mechanism of the enhancement in PEC activity of the BiVO4 photoanode via decoration of CoS.

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Enhanced photoelectrochemical water splitting using a cobalt-sulfide-decorated BiVO₄ photoanode

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